Richard Waghorn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Dick Waghorn Alpine skiing
Full name Henry Richard Danvers Waghorn
nation United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
birthday September 6, 1904
place of birth Brompton , Kensington , London
job Military pilot of the Royal Air Force
date of death May 7, 1931
Place of death Farnborough (Hampshire)
Career
discipline Downhill , slalom , alpine combination
society Downhill Only Ski Club ( Wengen )
National squad since 1930
End of career 1931
 

Flight Lieutenant Henry Richard Danvers " Dick " Waghorn AFC , (* 6. September 1904 in Brompton , Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , London ; † 7 May 1931 in Farnborough , Hampshire ) was an English military - pilot , winner of the Schneider Trophy and, as an alpine skier, participant in the first Alpine World Ski Championships .

Private

Waghorn was the son of a civil engineer from Brompton.

He married Dollie Watson on June 15, 1929. The couple had a son named John.

Military career and aviation successes

Waghorn completed his school days in Wellington. He then joined the Royal Air Force College Cranwell as a cadet in 1922 . Here he met the later high-ranking Air Force officer, Sir Richard Atcherley , with whom he took part in the 1929 Schneider Trophy. At his graduation in August 1924 he was awarded the "Sword of Honor" for the best all-round cadet.

This was followed by the assignment to Squadron No. 17 where he flew for two years with the old Sopwith Snipe , a British biplane fighter pilot from World War I. Subsequently, he completed his training as a qualified flight instructor at the Central Flying School (CFS) in Wiltshire in 1926 and stayed as a flight instructor at the school. In February 1929 he was transferred to the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment in Felixstowe and became a member of the High-Speed-Flight , a small special unit of the Royal Air Force , the pilots on the participation in the popular, designed for seaplanes and held since 1913 Schneider Trophy prepared.

In April 1929, he was with his comrades Flying Officer Moon, D'Arcy Greig, Squadron Leader Augustus Orlebar, George and Richard Stainfort Atcherley to Calshot moved around in the final stages of the race against teams from the USA , Italy and France prepare .

Dick Waghorn won the competition on September 6, 1929 on a Supermarine S.6 , with a total time of 39.42 minutes and an average speed of 529 km / h, ahead of Tomasso Dal Molin ( Macchi M.52 ) and D'Arcy Greig ( Supermarine p.5 ).

After winning the Schneider Trophy, Waghorn mainly flew aircraft with experimental equipment as a test pilot, but also continued to take part in competitions. Among other things, on June 5, 1930, he came third in the King's Cup Race over 753 miles on a Blackburn Bluebird IV .

Career in skiing

Waghorn was a sporty all-round talent who, in addition to flying, also devoted himself to rugby and alpine skiing . From the mid-1920s, Waghorn regularly spent the winter in Switzerland. In 1926 he joined the Downhill Only Ski Club with his brother David . This was a year before in Wengen as a competitor to the Kandahar Ski Club of Arnold Lunn founded and was the second purely focused on alpine skiing ski club of English in Switzerland.

After the club secretary Donald Dalrymple died in an avalanche accident on the Eggishorn on February 14, 1928, the ski club, known as DHO for short, was about to be dissolved. Waghorn took over the agendas of the former club secretary, became vice-president under Major CJ White and successfully looked after the continued existence of the club. From 1929 until his death he was president of the ski club.

At the 11th British Ski Championships held in Wengen in 1930, Waghorn took second place in downhill skiing. As the first skier of the Downhill Only Ski Club, he was accepted into the selection team of the Skiclub of Great Britain in 1931 and was thus able to take part in the international FIS races in Mürren , which today count as the first Alpine World Ski Championships . He finished 18th in the downhill on the Winteregg route and was fourth-best of the strong British team. He decided not to start in the slalom . In the special run Grütsch- Lauterbrunnen he came in 20th place.

In the same year he also took part in the Inferno races in Mürren, but could not place in the front ranks there

Alpine World Ski Championships

Fédération Internationale de Ski Logo.svg
Alpine World Ski Championships 		competition
Departure slalom Alpine combination Long descent
1931 Murren 18th DNS DNF 20th

Demise

As part of a test flight, he started one in Farnborough on 5 May 1931 with instead of a Rolls-Royce Condor with a Rolls-Royce Buzzard-engine prototype , equipped Hawker Horsley -Doppeldecker.

After a couple of successful loops , he tried to turn and lost control of the plane due to the strong wind. He and his civilian assistant ER Alexander then operated the emergency exit. While Alexander landed on the roof of a factory only slightly injured, Waghorn seemed to have stuck on the plane for a while. He was admitted to hospital with serious injuries, where he died two days later, on May 7, 1931, at the age of 27.

A commission set up came to the conclusion that the pilot was not at fault in the accident.

Honors

On September 20, 1929 Waghorn was awarded the Air Force Cross "in recognition of his performance in winning the Schneider Trophy " .

In the original:

  • "The King has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the Air Force Cross to Flying Officer Henry Richard Danvers Waghorn in recognition of his achievement winning the recent" Schneider Trophy "Air Race."

Web links

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Air Ministry, September 20th, 1929 ; in: The London Gazette of September 20, 1929; Retrieved December 3, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c "Flight Lieutenant Waghorn Winner Of The Schneider Trophy Race". Obituaries. The Times (45817), London, May 8, 1931, p. 11
  3. ^ A b Dick Waghorn Archives - This Day in Aviation. 7 September 1929 ; on: thisdayinaviation.com; Retrieved December 3, 2017
  4. ^ Schneider Trophy. Calshot - September 6th and 7th, 1929 ; on: hydroretro.net; Retrieved December 3, 2017
  5. ^ King's Cup - 1930 ; on: afleetingpeace.org; Retrieved December 3, 2017
  6. ↑ A fleeting peace. Flt-Lt Henry Richard Danvers Waghorn ; on: afleetingpeace.org; Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  7. ↑ a b c DHO Wengen. Alpine skiing, our small part in its creation. on: downhillonly.com ; accessed on December 6, 2017 ( PDF file)
  8. ↑ Officers, Committee and Member's List ( Memento of December 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) in: DHO Journal 1967 of November 1967, p. 61; accessed on December 6, 2017 (PDF;)
  9. ^ Flight Lieutenant Waghorn - Verdict of Accidental Death " in: The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, July 18, 1931, p. 7; accessed December 3, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Waghorn, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waghorn, Henry Richard Danvers (full name); Waghorn Dick; Waghorn Henry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British military pilot and alpine ski racer
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Brompton , Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea , London , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 1931
Place of death Farnborough, Hampshire , United Kingdom